This was the coffee table inspiration: (from pinterest, so I don't know the original source ugh)
Cottage, rustic, pottery barnesque, and those turned table legs...pretty perfect in every way. We ended up getting a similar look for a VERY reasonable price. This is how it happened.
First, we started with a cheap coffee table off craigslist. There are actually a lot of tables like this that come up for great prices. The key is to look for tables with good bones, what's underneath that finish? This one had the same rectangular table top with the beautiful turned legs we were looking for. We snatched it up for just $25. (A quick craigslist search shows a very similar table here for $20).
Please excuse these bad phone photos, I didn't know I would be blogging this!
Then we started to get to work on the finish. That orange color had to go! To strip the top we used Citristrip,it's my favorite stripper. It doesn't have a strong chemical smell like most strippers do, and the bottle says it's even safe to use in doors. The key is to get get a nice thick coat covering the area that you want the finish removed and let it sit for 45min - 1hr (longer if there are multiple coats of paint etc). The directions say to paint it on with a brush, but if you are doing flat areas like the table top just use a putty knife - cause it's much easier to clean!
Once the stripper has had time to work just scrape it off with the putty knife (you can test a small patch before doing the whole thing). This part was definitely the most fun. Once the stripper was off we wiped it down really well with a damp rag, and were left with this:
Already such an improvement! You could see the wood grain and those beautiful knots. Then we sanded it down, starting with a rough sand paper (low number) and working to something more fine (higher number). We did this by hand using a hand sander like this, since we wanted a more rustic feel to the table top this was all we needed. However, if you are wanting something super smooth an electric sander might be a better option.
The table top was a little yellowish for our liking so we then added a really thin layer of stain. Just enough to take some of the yellow color out. Since we wanted the stain to be really light, we first brushed water over the surface to prevent too much stain from absorbing into the wood. Then brushed some watered down stain on it and wiped it off immediately. We used a tiny can of this stain.
Once the top was done, we painted the bottom a dark brown color. I think it was called bitter chocolate - so good ha! We just roughed it up a little with some of the sandpaper before painting to make sure it stuck well. The paint covered really well, and only needed one coat plus a few touch ups - a test pot would be more than enough.
Isn't it gorgeous?! Since this is a coffee table, we wanted to protect it from everyday wear and tear. We brushed on several thin coats of this matte poly and called it a day. (Sanding in between coats with a fine sandpaper.) It turned out great, you can't even tell it's on there - no shine at all.
Although there are several steps, this really didn't take too long and could easily be done in an afternoon. The thing that actually took the most time was waiting for the stripper to work and the poly coats to dry. We started this in the early evening and were done with all but the poly step by around 9 (if you couldn't tell by the changing light of the photos ha).
Now I am so excited about getting the studio space started!
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